ALBUM REVIEWS

The two-tenor saxophone format is one of the most robust sounds in jazz. Tenor Conclave’s first album, “Sax Storm,” paired Ravi Coltrane with Antoine Roney. In this edition Craig Handy replaces Roney and the interfacing of the two young rising stars results in an attractive, contemporary tenor team reminiscent of such first-rate combinations as Al Cohn-Zoot Sims and Gene Ammons-Sonny Stitt.

The program is dedicated to the music of the too-little-recognized Hank Mobley--a thoughtful choice. But the most fascinating aspect of the album is the emergence of Coltrane as an artist in his own right, no longer in the shadow of John Coltrane, his illustrious father. True, there are times--especially noticeable in his lovely rendering of “If I Should Lose You”--when his sound is uncannily similar to his father’s early ballad work. Despite the tonal parallels, however, Coltrane is clearly beginning to explore potentially productive territory of his own.

Handy is his usual dependable self, often playing choruses that gradually expand straight-ahead Mobley grooves into envelope-stretching phrases that rove eagerly across the length of his horn. In the rhythm section, Billy Childs’ piano choruses swing with an unusually boppish abandon, and bassist Dwayne Burno and drummer Cindy Blackman lay down a pulse that is the perfect support for the gutsy, two-tenor sound.

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